Kolkata, May 17 (Inditop) After the electoral drubbing to the ruling Left front in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress Sunday reiterated that it wants early assembly elections held in the state. It also said it was confident that the Congress would have the party “on board” in the new United Progressive Alliance government.
Trinamool Congress leader Dinesh Trivedi told a news channel that the 26 Lok Sabha seats bagged by the Trinamool-Congress-Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) combine, against the Left Front’s poor 15, was a “verdict against the Left”.
“The verdict is against the Left and there is low confidence in the West Bengal government. We will see that assembly elections are conducted earliest in Bengal as the people have spoken loudly in the general elections about what they want.”
On the Trinamool joining the UPA government, Trivedi said: “We are not really in the game of bargain, we are going to work for the people. We have a significant number – the largest number (19 seats) as far as UPA allies are concerned. I am sure the Congress will be interested to have the Trinamool on board.”
He also said that Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee would not fight for any position. “Our main ally has been the Congress. We haven’t reached the stage where we are talking about anything. It’s between (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi and Mamata. They have a fantastic equation, and will do whatever is good for democracy and for the people.”
“You know Mamata, she has never hankered for any kind of position. Our objective is to give stability to this country. (Earlier) even two MPs would bargain to bring instability to the country. We want to give dignity to parliament and dignity to the government,” he said.
The Left Front got its lowest tally of 15 since 1977 in the state. West Bengal has 42 Lok Sabha seats. Of the 26 seats, the Trinamool won 19 and the Congress got six.
